Village Idiots

I apologize for being scarce around here. We got back from our wonderful vacation on Sunday, but it has been a flurry of activity since then. Work has been crazy, and our big house remodel project has been kicked into high gear (we haven’t started yet, but we did order the kitchen cabinets today). Forget about the mundane day-to-day stuff though, in this post I am going to let you in on my vacation learnings:

1. I blogged about the great ash in the hot tub incident already, so I don’t need to go there
2. Crayola Color Wonder markers are fabulous, except when used to draw on stained wood closet doors. No, no, they don’t leave any colored marks on the doors, but they do leave a streak that can’t be easily removed (at least not without sanding and re-staining the doors). Even the fabulous Mr. Clean Magic Eraser is of no use.
3. A nearly 2 year old can be lightning quick when she thinks it is funny to run out into the street
4. Blond girl children need to wear hats or have sunscreen applied to their hair part lines in order to avoid sunburned heads
5. Non-blond Treadmillista’s also need to wear hats or put sunscreen in their hair part lines in order to avoid sunburned heads – OUCH!
6. The Boy really enjoys talking about toots, his, hers, made up toots, it doesn’t really matter, all are extraordinarily funny
7. It is difficult to get the kids to sleep at night while on vacation – understatement
8. Dirt is fun to play with – pouring it on Mommy’s head is absolutely thrilling
9. My laptop battery can’t even last through one viewing of Toy Story 2 anymore
10. The Girl needs her own seat on an airplane
11. When you check your car seats they don’t always arrive on the same flight you did
12. Having your child refer to a grandparent by the name of the state she lives in becomes confusing when you arrive in that state – are we going to name of state now?

I’m sure there are more. Perhaps the most profound learning for me was that when you have an extra set or two of adults around “watching” your children you all become a little less guarded than normal. I’m convinced that items 1 through 3 above would not have occurred had it been just DH and I on duty. This makes me question the whole “it takes a village” approach to raising kids. I mean, we all felt like someone else was watching the children, so none of us were watching them as closely as we should have been. Or perhaps it just shows that DH and I become the village idiots when we have back-ups around. In any case, my deepest apologies for any damage we may have done to your house Mom. We had a great time!